Saturday, January 03, 2009

Saturday, January 03, 2009
Reflections From "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Abrom
"Take any emotion - love for a woman, or grief for a loved one, or what I'm going through, fear and pain from a deadly illness. If you hold back on the emotions - if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them - you can never get to being detached, you're too busy being afraid. You're afraid of the pain, you're afraid of the grief. You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails.

"But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. You know what pain is. You know what love is. You know what grief is. And only then can you say, 'All right. I have experienced that emotion. I recognize that emotion. Now I need to detach from that emotion for a moment'."

I believe in this. I believe in this wholly and completely. I believed in these words before I read them. When I read them they were familiar, like the words had appeared for my benefit, and to prove to me that I am correct. At least in this. At least in this belief. To push away time, and people, and judgements, and emotions. To absorb what is happening and throw myself into it, into the person, into the moment, into the place, into whatever I so choose to be absorbed by.

I believe that this is why no matter what happens I have the power to forgive. To love someone's faults as well as their virtues. To dare to do things that may be embarrassing, or shameful, or risky. To embrace the things that others may find frightening and also to enjoy the emotions that wash over me when I am sad. Not to hesitate when others laugh. Not to turn and run when I'm told 'no'. Not to become bitter or resentful when I am hurt by friends, but try to understand. And, if you know me, you know I am loving, but not naive. I am sweet, but innocent. I am friendly, but no fool. If you were forgiven by me, Thank You. If you were loved by me, Thank You. You gave me the opportunity to make myself better and I am eternally grateful.